Alien Life Forms
by Diablo Priest
Summary: Femslash. Vignettes or snapshots from Jennifer and Needy's long romance before Chip and the fire at Melody Lane. No demon. Just sweetness and angst!
1. Lezzies

Rated: M [R] (just to be safe) for foul language and mature themes.

Jennifer and Needy created by Diablo Cody—everything else: mine. It's all fictitious. A portion of this fic is also based on a verse in the song "Through the Trees," lyrics by Ryan Levine.

Alien Life Forms by Diablo Priest

_If I could through myself / Set your spirit free / I'd lead your heart away / See you break, break away / Into the light… —U2, "Bad."_

} Lezzies {

_Fuck._

Jennifer always knew about such things. The first time Needy heard the word in the schoolyard, she thought Billy, the other kid, had made it up because it sounded funny. Jennifer had to show her what it meant—well, not demonstrate it actually; but Jennifer knew where her mother's current boyfriend hid his porno magazines. They were in the bottom drawer of her mother's nightstand. Covertly, Jennifer led Needy into the room. Both girls knelt, like little cherubs, side by side before the night table with their heads bowed as if praying. Jennifer slid the drawer open slowly and quietly. The top magazine was _Guns & Ammo_; she laid it aside. Underneath it were the skin mags, she picked one up; and flipping it open, she whispered:

"That's what fucking is," and she tapped the page.

Poor Needy. She wasn't prepared for those images. The man was frightening—all tattooed with a fierce-looking bald head. In some of the photos, the female model seemed to be crying out in pain. With all that, though, it was two pictures of the young woman naked on the bed by herself that Needy couldn't keep her eyes off. And it wasn't just that she had dark hair and blue eyes like Jennifer.

Always keenly preceptive of other people's actions, Jennifer noticed Needy's fascination with the pictures of the naked girl on the bed.

"You're a lezzie," Jennifer said teasingly to Needy. "You'll steam up your glasses, lezzie." And she pulled on one of Needy's blonde pigtails.

"What's a lezzie?" Needy asked in a soft voice.

"A girl who likes other girls."

"But I like you, Jennifer," said Needy, pushing up her glasses. "What's wrong with that?"

"Not that kinda _like,_" Jennifer said, flipping the pages of the magazine, which she had obviously perused before, to more pictures, "this kinda _like_. It's dirty."

"Mommy says if you do dirty things, you go to hell."

"Yup."

The new pictures were of two artificially endowed blonde girls frolicking on a beach blanket beside a pool, their legs spread wide in nearly every shot.

"Those are lezzies?" Needy asked, looking at the photos wide-eyed.

"Yup," Jennifer replied. "They say are mommies are lezzies."

"Really?" Needy said. "Why?"

"Because they've been friends for so long, I guess."

"They are not lezzies: they have boyfriends."

"Yup."

"What are you girls doing?" Gracie the baby-sitter shouted from another room. "You're awful quiet."

"We're not doin' nothing," Jennifer shouted back as she quickly replaced the magazines and closed the drawer; then the girls scampered back to Jennifer's room.


	2. Seeds

} Seeds {

"Look, Jennifer!" Needy cried, racing into her friend's room, where Jennifer lay on the floor, coloring a picture of a tortoise. "Look what my mommy bought me." She was holding an envelope of seeds in her tiny hand. "We can plant them by the sandbox and watch 'em grow!"

"Yuk!" Jennifer spit. "Plant them in the dirt? I don't want to get all muddy and touch icky worms."

"It'll be fun!" Needy declared excitedly. "And look how pretty they'll be!" She pointed to the picture. "They're snapdragons, and they grow big and tall—as tall as us. C'mon! They'll be so pretty when they grow, and they'll be ours—yours and mine." Needy took Jennifer's hand, "Please Jennifer, let's plant the pretty flowers," and pulled her along.

"All right, Needy," Jennifer said, indignantly. "But I'm not touching any worms, do you hear?"

They found a hand spade in the garage and went out to the sandbox. Near the southeast corner, Needy took off her little jean jacket, revealing a white T-shirt with a dolphin printed on it. She got on her hands and knees, and began to dig by stabbing at the ground with the hand spade. Jennifer only watched her for a while; then she began to look at the picture of the flowers on the envelope. Yellow, red, white, and pink.

"They're pretty, aren't they, Jennifer?" Needy said, looking up from her vigorous work.

"Yup."

Jennifer then dropped to her knees beside her blonde friend, to help her.

"You have to break up the dirt," Needy explained, grabbing a clump of earth, "like this," and she squeezed.

"Eeeh! There's a worm!"

Needy picked up the squirming thread and tossed it aside. "They won't hurt you, Jennifer."

Timidly, Jennifer picked up a ball of dirt and crushed it in her fist.

"That's it," Needy said. "When I'm not around and it's dry, you have to water 'em."

"I will."

"Don't forget."

"I won't."

"Don't water 'em too much. My mommy says the roots will rot, and they'll die."

"Oh, I hope I don't kill them."

"You won't, Jennifer," Needy said. "We'll have to pull the weeds too."

"Okay."

When they had a patch they thought was big enough, Needy opened the packet of seeds.

"Now, we don't bury 'em," she said. "Mommy says to just push 'em into the dirt with your finger."

"We're done," Jennifer said, as she pushed the last seed into the soft dirt.

"No," Needy said. "We have to give 'em a drink now."

They found the red watering can with a pink heart on it, which had come with a pail and shovel that the girls used in the sandbox. After filling this with water, Needy gave it to her friend, who sprinkled the seeds, all the while holding Needy's hand.

Twelve days later, Needy was getting out of her mother's car at the Check house, when Jennifer ran up to her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into the backyard.

"Come quick, Needy!" Jennifer said. "Look! The snapdragons are growing! They're growing!"

Needy had never seen Jennifer so excited about something that was not a dress, toy, or doll. The two friends knelt down before the flowerbed. As Jennifer tilted her head to look at the tender green shoots, the sunlight flashed resplendently off the silver barrette decorated with a swan in her black, black hair.

"They're really growing!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Needy said proudly. "We did it!"

"They're so small," Jennifer said, as tears swelled in her blue eyes.

Needy saw the tears roll down her friend's cheeks. "Don't be sad, Jennifer," she said, hugging her. "They'll grow bigger."

"I'm not sad," Jennifer said, wiping away her tears. "I love you, Needy."

"Oh," Needy said, not quite understanding the connection. "I love you too, Jennifer."

The friends locked hands and smiled at each other.

"I think they need a drink," Needy said.

And they scrambled to find the red watering can with the pink heart on it.


	3. Pup Tent

} Pup Tent {

A pink pup tent was pitched in the backyard. It was going to be a warm summer night with crickets and lightning bugs. A night made for two little girls to sleep out.

At dusk, the friends ran around the backyard catching lightning bugs and putting them into a Mason jar. They were frightened when a bat fluttered overhead eerily. Jennifer ran screaming and flailing her arms. She slipped on the dewy grass, and Needy fell on top of her. They lay in a heap, giggling.

"Is it in my hair?" Jennifer asked, afraid but still giggling.

"No, look," said Needy, pointing up. "It's just after the bugs flying around the porch light."

The bat incident put an end to hunting for lightning bugs; but Needy's mother built a fire in the hibachi, and the girls each roasted a hot dog. Then they toasted marshmallows. Jennifer became upset when first one then another marshmallow on her stick flared up in tall flames and slipped onto the hot coals.

"You little fucker!" the dark-haired pixie cursed loudly.

"Jennifer!" Needy's mother yelled from the kitchen window. "Watch your mouth, or I'll take you home."

"Oh," Needy said anxiously, "don't swear, Jennifer. I don't want you to go home. You can have my marshmallow, I'll toast another one."

Jennifer took Needy's marshmallow without saying thank you.

"See, Jennifer," Needy said, putting a fresh marshmallow over the coals, "you hold yours too close, that's why it burns."

"Your way takes too long."

"But they come out golden-brown."

When they were done with the marshmallows, Jennifer looked up at the starry sky.

"Look at all the stars, Needy!"

"Wow, they sparkle like little diamonds. Isn't it romantic?"

"We can play prom night!"

"Yeah, that'll be fun!" Needy exclaimed. "I'll get the radio so we can dance."

The girls pretended that they were attending a high school prom. They danced to fast songs and slow songs and laughed at each other when they looked silly. They danced and laughed until Needy's mother came to the screen door. "All right, girls. It's getting late. Time to go in the tent and go to sleep. Don't forget to say your prayers."

The girls threw aside the flaps decorated with red hearts, crawled into their tent, and put the Mason jar between them.

Inside the little tent, two sleeping bags were side by side, and each girl had a backpack, as if it were a real camping experience. Each girl had in her pack a snack consisting of Oreos, a little packet of cheese and crackers (with a small red stick for spreading the cheese), and a juice box. Jennifer also had strawberry lip gloss in hers. A book, _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_, could be found in Needy's pack. Needy, as always, had her stuffed animal with her. It was a dog with big ears, that she had long ago named Loppy, because she fancied his ears were like those of a bunny in a story her mother used to read her at bedtime. Lately on sleep overs, Jennifer would ask Needy if she were getting too big for Loppy; but Needy would cling to it tightly and mew in protest at Jennifer's words.

Each girl folded her hands and mumbled her prayers.

"I don't know why we have to do this when we're out here by ourselves," Jennifer said.

"We have to, that's all. Everybody does it."

"Do we have to be like everybody else?"

"If you want people to like you, I guess."

The myriad of lightning bugs in the jar lit the tent with a pulsating greenish-yellow glow. Needy held up the jar and looked inside.

"They're so beautiful," she said.

"When you hold them up like that, they make your hair glow like you're a fairy," Jennifer said. "You're so pretty, Needy."

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"I'm gonna let them go, Jennifer. It's mean to keep them in the jar."

"Okay. I'll turn the flashlight on."

As Needy crawled out of the tent, Jennifer pinched her little rump, and Needy let out a squeak; then both girls giggled. Outside, Needy unscrewed the top and gently shook the jar to release all the captives.

"Off you go, little buddies," she said.

Crawling back inside, Needy noticed Jennifer staring at her.

"Why are you looking at me so funny?"

"Cuz you're so good, Needy. You're good to the little bugs, and you're good to me. I'm glad you're my friend."

"I am too."

"So, my mom says she'll take us to McCullum Park t'morrow, so we can swim in the pool."

"Goody."

"Then we can get some ice cream."

"I want rainbow sherbet," Needy said.

"Me too."

By themselves and inside the tent that was surrounded by darkness, the girls could explore mysterious realms.

"What's frenching, Jennifer?" Needy asked. She had heard the word on one of those cable channels that she was forbidden to watch and assumed that it was dirty.

"That's when people who really, really like each other kiss with tongues."

"Ugh, like a dog?"

"No silly," laughed Jennifer. "Like this."

Jennifer leaned in and kissed the elfin blonde's mouth. Needy was too timid to pull away, but quickly found herself exhilarated by the kiss and the sensations that effloresced within her. Her heartbeat quickened as Jennifer's tongue explored beyond her lips.

"Did you like it?" Jennifer asked when she pulled away.

Needy could only nod enthusiastically. It didn't occur to her that it was taboo; yet, she didn't dare say what she thought. Yes, yes, I did. Kiss me again!

Then like magic, Jennifer kissed her again. And again. And again. Until Needy thought she would suffocate from her kisses. Suffocate from want of breath and surfeit of pleasure.

The outside world then invaded the intimate domain of the girls.

"Jennifer," Needy said without much thought, "shouldn't you be kissing a boy?"

Jennifer was angry. Needy saw it at once. The raven-haired girl's steel eyes flashed with demonic madness.

"Damn you, Needy," Jennifer spit vehemently. "Don't you know that I like you more than any stupid boy." And she punched Needy's pillow, causing Needy to flinch.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," Needy bleated. She couldn't understand her friend's sudden rage. "I thought you wanted to kiss boys."

"Oh, shut up," Jennifer snapped, "and go to sleep. You ruin everything with your big stupid mouth."

"I'm sorry," Needy said, verging on tears. "I didn't mean to."

But Jennifer threw herself down and turned away from her friend. Not another word she said.

Needy could not sleep. She lay awake wishing that she had not upset Jennifer and longing to be kissed again. Yes, she wanted Jennifer to kiss her many more times. She couldn't quite understand why, but she knew that she didn't want to kiss anyone else but Jennifer. Finally she fell asleep and awoke just before dawn when the birds started to sing. She sat up and was startled to find that Jennifer had crawled inside her sleeping bag with her. Needy gasped with shock and wonder—Jennifer had no clothes on!

Needy didn't dare move. She didn't know what to do. Did this mean Jennifer was a lezzie?

"Needy, what's wrong?"

The groggy utterance made Needy jump.

"The birds woke me up," she replied nervously, as if she had done something wrong.

"It's too early. Lie down and go back to sleep."

And Needy lay down. And without self-consciousness, Jennifer kissed her, snuggled up to her, and went back to sleep.

The girls had been twinned friends before this night; from those first kisses, however, Needy's heart was consecrated to Jennifer. It was strange, though. Needy knew that girls couldn't marry, yet Jennifer had kissed her and Needy liked it. Even though she was intelligent, Needy was naïve: she didn't realize that other girls kissed in the way Jennifer had kissed her, but that made their sleep out uniquely special. She and Jennifer shared a secret that no one else could possibly know. The secret of those wonderful kisses on a summer's night in a pink pup tent.

More sleep outs and sleep overs were to come. There would be many more kisses. And naked games too.


	4. Snapdragon

} Snapdragon {

The little bumps that Jennifer had growing on her chest were impacting her life in mysterious ways. Everyone at school was fascinated by her breasts, boys and girls. The boys lined up seeking access, and Jennifer shot them down. Some came back for more, and it became a sadomasochistic game. Needy was at first frightened by the way Jennifer coldly dealt out the rejection, but then Needy was confused that boys returned. Quickly Jennifer refined her technique—she teased the boys as she rejected them so that even more returned. Her precocious interest in clothes and makeup became an obsession, and she dressed to entice the boys further. And the girls seemed to gather in the shadow of Jennifer's breasts. With the girls, Jennifer was duplicitous—sweet to their faces, vile behind their backs; and Needy was horrified. Jennifer, however, remained her friend. The frequency of their naked games decreased, but Jennifer seemed to become more dependent on her blonde friend. Needy had yet to realize it, but the allurement nearly everyone in school felt for Jennifer actually isolated her emotionally—Needy was Jennifer's only friend. As summer came, the heartbreaks and resentment only seemed to strengthen Jennifer's ability to beguile her classmates. Her approval bestowed had value.

It was a hot evening in July, and a group of kids were riding their bikes around the gas pumps at the Sunoco, which had closed for the night. This was a common ritual the children in the neighborhood engaged in on summer evenings when the air was sweet and humid, and the shadows were growing long.

Jennifer stopped her bike near the pumps, and Needy pulled up beside her.

"Do you think Brad is cute?" Jennifer asked her, while watching a tall boy wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the Confederate flag and riding a bike that was too small for his frame. "I think he really likes me."

Before Needy could answer, the boy rode past and smiled at Jennifer. And she smiled back.

Jennifer had finally made a selection and sped off after Brad. Just like that, her long ponytail fluttering behind her like a flag in the wind. The long series of rejections was broken, at least momentarily. The suddenness shocked Needy. She thought:

_What the fuck is happening?_

Jennifer's capriciousness had altered Needy's life. The desire Needy felt for Jennifer—long hidden from the world and sublimated, since puberty, as friendship—turned into emotional acid that corroded the blonde girl's strength. Needy felt nauseous. She got off her bike and let it fall to the pavement. The kids peddling around and around made her dizzy. She sat down with her back against one of the pumps and her knees up.

She heard Brad say, "What's wrong with Needy?"

And Jennifer replied, "Probably allergies. She'll be okay."

Needy curled into a ball by putting her forehead to her knees. And she cried.

When Needy was done crying, she lifted her head. Her face was red and hot. Looking around, she saw Jennifer, straddling her bike with one foot on a peddle and the other on one of the steps on the side of the garage. All the other kids were grouped around the raven-haired beauty. Dropping her gaze, Needy saw a bright pink snapdragon, plucked from the landscaping, laying at her feet. She picked it up and examined it as if it were an alien life form. Looking up again, Needy saw Jennifer looking back at her, as she spoke to the other kids, who were all listening intently. It had nothing to do with Brad, Needy realized, it was all about Jennifer. Needy was puzzled as to why Jennifer needed all that attention, for she, Needy, was never happier than when she was with Jennifer.

For a long, long time, Needy kept that snapdragon pressed between sheets of wax paper. Until it crumbled away.

[continued]


	5. Trojans

} Trojans {

Needy's mother was working and Jennifer's mother was out with yet another guy. It was a warm autumn night, Jennifer and Needy were sitting on the steps of the Sunoco gas station, one dim light burned inside. Jennifer was wearing jeans, a white deep-V top, and a long black-and-white plaid cardigan. Trying to appear older and sophisticated, she finished this ensemble with a black knit beret. Her long black hair was set in waves with auburn highlights. Needy was dressed in jeans and a Green Bay Packers sweat shirt. Her blonde hair fixed in a ponytail.

Jennifer lit up a cigarette; Needy could tell by the way Jennifer exhaled the smoke that she was nervous. Intuitively, Needy had no interest in smoking; and before Jennifer had taken it up, Needy thought it was disgusting. When Jennifer wasn't nervous, when she was smoking leisurely, Needy, however, was strangely fascinated by it—she loved to watch Jennifer smoke, loved to watch her exhale. She didn't know why she should be attracted to this otherwise repulsive habit, but lately it was her favorite thing—to watch Jennifer smoke. The raven-haired girl was like a movie star—she could make repulsive actions sexy. Tonight, however, Jennifer was tense; and Needy was just annoyed at the foul odor of her cigarette. Jennifer was on edge because she had been scheming all week to rendezvous with her latest boyfriend. Schemes were nothing new with her during the past year, but this was serious.

"You know, Clay has a friend," said Jennifer.

"Oh, I'm not sure," Needy sighed.

"You know him—Travis—the short guy; but he's kinda cute, don't ya think?"

"He needs a shave."

"He is _older_," Jennifer said, throwing away her cigarette only half smoked. She was extremely nervous.

"Jennifer," Needy said, "let's go. Let's go home—to my house."

"O-M-G, here it comes!"

"You're not old enough to do this."

"Do what?"

"C'mon," Needy said, "don't play coy now. You've talked about nothing but Clay all week—about jumpin' his bones. You're going to give up your virginity tonight."

"I am old enough. Lots of girls do it by now."

"That doesn't mean you have to. Last year, you were riding your bike around these pumps; now you're waiting here to have sex."

Jennifer shook her head. "You sound like someone's mother, Needy. If I wanted this talk, I'd go search out my own mother—only Heaven knows where she is. You just want our naked games to go on; and I told you, Anita Pan, it's time to grow up."

"This isn't growing up. This isn't who you are."

"I am growing up, Needy; and you are too. Our world is changing. You can't fight it."

"You don't have to do this tonight. Wait a while."

"He's got his father's truck—snuck out with it—if I bail, it'll be all over school on Monday."

"Who cares?"

Jennifer lit another cigarette.

"You're moving too fast," Needy said. "Smoking, sex."

"You'd move faster too if you didn't stand still, Needy."

"I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

"Afraid _for_ us."

"Needy," said Jennifer, "do you remember the sandbox?" She held up her hand. "When I got the tack in my hand?"

Needy looked at her friend and nodded. She had cleaned Jennifer's wound with her mouth, and Jennifer told her: _We're sisters now, you know._

"I haven't forgotten, Needy: we're sisters." And, with the cigarette glowing between her fingers, Jennifer touched the palm with her index and middle finger together—touched the spot that had been wounded years ago, the spot that Needy had cleaned with her mouth, the spot from which Needy had drunk Jennifer's blood. "We'll always be sisters—we'll always be best friends."

Needy put two condoms into Jennifer's hand. "I don't want to be an aunt yet."

"Where'd you get these?" Jennifer said, laughing.

"I lifted them for you. You don't think I'd ask the school nurse for them, do you? My mom would skin my ass if I did."

"Color me impressed, Needy!" Jennifer said. "Now that's sisterly love! You stole some rubbers for me!"

"Be safe, Jennifer."

Clay pulled up in his father's old Ford pickup truck. It had a gun rack and a small Confederate flag fluttering from the antenna. The tailgate had a weather-beaten Bush-Cheney bumper sticker on it. He was wearing jeans and a faded Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt.

"Hey, Check mate! Yo, Needy!" he held up a six-pack of Coors triumphantly.

"How'd you get that?" Jennifer asked.

"Roman was working at the kwik-i-mart tonight."

Jennifer turned to Needy. "Thanks for waiting with me." She kissed the blonde on the cheek. "I'll tell you all about it tomorrow," she whispered.

"Protect this too," Needy said, touching Jennifer's heart with the tips of her fingers.

Tossing her cigarette away, Jennifer smiled at her friend. Needy then watched her hop into the truck, slide across the seat, and kiss Clay. As the truck took her friend away, Needy stood watching, while a bitter emotion burned in her throat and constricted her lips.

Needy's house was six doors from the gas station, but it was a long, lonely walk that night.


	6. Sunday

} Sunday {

Sunday just after twelve o'clock, Needy arrived home with her mother. They had been to church, and Needy was dressed in a gold crochet-trim cami and a chocolate knee-length skirt. Approaching the door to the house, Needy suddenly squealed, "Jennifer's here!" And nearly pushed her mother over rushing inside to see her friend.

Upstairs in her bedroom, Needy found Jennifer sitting at the foot of the bed. Only it wasn't really Jennifer. She was wearing a frumpy pair of sweat pants and a baggy sweat shirt on a warm June day. Her hair was a mess, and she wasn't wearing makeup, not even lipstick. Her eyes were all red and swollen. She had been crying—crying very hard.

"Jennifer," Needy said, "what's the matter?"

Without a word, Jennifer wiped her nose with her sleeve and dropped her gaze to the floor.

"Something happened at the party you snuck out to last night, didn't it?"

"Nothin' happened," Jennifer replied.

"I don't have scrap metal for brains, you know," Needy said. "Something happened. Something major. I can tell."

Jennifer looked at Needy, than back at the rug. "I was doing stuff with this guy—Bob, Rob or Tab… or something—"

"You don't even know his name!" Needy exclaimed.

"His name isn't important, Needy!" Jennifer roared.

"Okay, okay."

"Anyway, I'm not an amateur anymore; but I wanted to stop for some reason…and…he kept going."

"He raped you?" Needy said, chocking back a sob.

"_He kept going,_" Jennifer repeated.

"Oh, God, Jennifer," Needy sniffled, two large tears running down her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" Jennifer demanded. "He didn't hurt you."

"Oh, God, are you hurt, Jennifer? Should you see a doctor? We have to tell someone."

"What I told you doesn't leave this room, do you understand?"

"Okay."

"Doesn't leave this room!"

"Okay!"

"It was nothing. He was drunk and just _kept going_, that's all. Shit happens. That's all."

"He raped you, Jennifer," Needy said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I'm tough."

"You're fourteen! You're still a little girl!"

"You're a little girl. I'm a woman—I can handle this."

"I can't handle it," Needy bawled.

"Oh, I'm bouncing," Jennifer said. "I can't handle all your melodrama."

"Melodrama!" Needy repeated incredulously. "You were raped—that's real!"

"I was there, Sherlock."

"Don't do this anymore, Jennifer, please, please."

"Don't do what?"

"Hookup with guys who don't care for you."

"Why, because you want me to hookup with you?"

"Because popularity isn't worth it—you can get hurt," Needy said. "And I care for you very much, and I don't want to see you get hurt again."

"Sucks to be you, I guess."

Jennifer started out the door.

"Don't go," Needy pleaded. "Don't isolate yourself now."

Jennifer turned to her friend.

"Don't shut me out; not Needy, not your best friend. Sisters share everything—best friends share everything."

"Even soulless agony?" Jennifer barely breathed out, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Especially that."

Jennifer took a step toward Needy.

Needy locked Jennifer's body tightly into her arms just as it became dead, dead weight. And the elfin girl who couldn't finish gym class, carried her prostrate friend to the bed.

Jennifer's body quaked as she bawled, and it shook Needy too. Jennifer's anguish was heartrending and Needy cried along with her. The emotional pain of her friend affected Needy physically—it felt as though something was slowly sawing her gut from the inside, from her diaphragm downwards. Eventually, Jennifer became quite, but she was not sleeping. Periodically, Needy could feel her left eyelid blink. For hours Needy just lay, cuddling her friend and stroking the hair on her head gently and occasionally kissing the top of her head tenderly.

[Continued]


	7. Naked Games

} Naked Games {

"This is gonna be a giant party!" Jennifer exclaimed, as she pulled another top from her closet, held it up to her chest and looked critically in the mirror. "Come with me and have some fun for a change. If you're in the library every night, how will you ever meet a guy? Really: books? Needy, everything's on the internet. Come out of the nineteenth century, will ya. I'll give you a make over, and you'll attracted some salty guys."

"Do you think so?"

"It's just what you need to boost your confidence. You're too shy."

"I'm not so sure about this, Jennifer."

"Are you saying I don't know about boys?"

"You know about boys!"

"So now," Jennifer said in a mock threat, " I'm a ho, uh?"

"I'm sorry," Needy said in an equally mocking tone. "I'm sorry. You really are more of a slut."

"Oh, I'm hurt," Jennifer tossed her head. "I thought you'd say I'm a courtesan."

"In this one-horse town? Don't be a Gump. 'Whore' is about as classy as it gets."

"Yeah," Jennifer said. "Some of the rednecks in this town know everything about swine, guns, gutting deer, dirt bikes, and snowmobiles, but nothing about women! And unfortunately, I've been with half the ones that fit that description. We're in luck, though, some college guys are going to be there."

"Oh right," Needy said, rolling her eyes. "Colleges guys! Yeah, that's a real step up."

"C'mon, Needy. There's bound to be one there who's read a book. You're not going to talk philosophy anyway. You're going to hookup! Your standards don't have to be too high: he's got to have all his teeth, all his hair, and all his fingers, okay?" And Jennifer concluded with a wink, "Plus it helps if he's packing more than a few pubic inches!"

"How do I know that?"

"If you're dancing with him, or making out, you can feel it," Jennifer said, pulling another top out of her closet. "You'll look like a sunburn, if you wear this top with that skirt of yours I borrowed last week."

"All right," Needy said, forcing enthusiasm, "let's go boy hunting."

"Bombastic!"

The day after the party, Jennifer, not knowing how the night ended for her friend, went to Needy's.

"I have a problem," Needy said. "At the party, I hooked up with a guy,"

"Good for you!" Jennifer squealed. "The one in the red shirt, right? I knew he was hot for you. You didn't fall in love did you? Never fall in love with a boy, Needy."

"No, no, you don't understand, _it_ made me sick—I threw up afterwards."

"It was a party, you probably had too much to drink, and all that bouncing around upset your stomach." And Jennifer added, "Your first time can be a bit traumatic, especially if you're needy. You'll be fine. You'll be glad you did it. Good for you!—You need to let loose more often, or you will have a problem."

"You don't understand…" Needy hesitated.

Jennifer studied her friend's blue eyes. She understood.

"I'm in love with you. I've known it since that night in the pup tent, remember? The night you kissed me and told me you liked me better than a boy. I've been in love with you for years now. I'm not attracted to boys."

"You and me, Needy, we are not lesbians," Jennifer said emphatically.

"But—"

"No buts, Seymour. We shouldn't even be discussing it."

"But when we were younger—those naked games we used to play…."

"That was prehistory, Needy," Jennifer said. "Do you know what happen to Lindsey?"

Lindsey was an older girl at school who disappeared two years ago.

"I thought she ran away from home," Needy replied.

"Wrong," Jennifer said, making an L from her thumb and index finger and branding Needy's forehead with it. "Lindsey's parents threw her out—threw her out like a piece of trash because she told them she was lesbigay. You know how the Bible thumpers are in this town, Needy: they'd rather throw their own child out into the cold than have people think they've raised a freak. I don't know about you, but I'm too beautiful to be treated like a leper. That's how Lindsey was treated—like a leper. Do you know what else happened to Lindsey, Needy?—I'll tell you. She ended up a crack whore in Minneapolis, and someone slit her throat from ear to ear and threw her body into a dumpster. Her parents didn't even claim her body—She was dead to them when she came out of the closet. Dead. Do you want to end up in a dumpster, Needy? Think about it. How often does your mom read the Bible? She takes that stuff pretty seriously, doesn't she? Do you really want to go downstairs right now and tell her, 'Mom, I'm a lesbian, and I'm in love with Jennifer'? Honestly, sometimes for a brainiac, you are really daffy!"

"But—"

"Like a duck, Needy. Daffy like a duck."


	8. Needy

} Needy {

Even though Needy was four months older, Jennifer always led the way in everything, and she obtained her driver's license before Needy too. And the first thing Jennifer did was to take Needy to the mall, and that was an hour-and-a-half drive from Devil's Kettle. It was not unusual for Jennifer to obsess about shopping: she often behaved quite childishly until she got whatever she craved, whether it was a pair of low rise, wide leg jeans; an off-the-shoulder textured sweater; shoes, or a silk top. Needy never suspected that this trip was anything more than Jennifer wants, Jennifer wants now. But just after they entered through the glass doors, Jennifer took Needy's hand, drew close to her, and in an intimate, susurrant voice said:

"We're here for something special."

Jennifer then led Needy by the hand into the best jewelry store there, as if they were a couple shopping for wedding bands. As they entered the store, a salesman, in a perfectly fitting suit, smiled at Jennifer. His narrow golden name tag had "John" on it. On the wall behind him, the silver hands of the clock pointed to 1:36.

Needy was excited. It was as if Jennifer was leading her through a fairyland. All the glass cases were gleaming with gold, platinum, and silver. Glittering diamonds were everywhere, like snowflakes on Christmas day. The big metallic letters on the wall proclaiming the store's brand—E. D. Lamb— shimmered blindingly like the sun as the two girls passed. Jennifer's eyes sparkled as the radiant light from all precious objects and glass reflected in their azure irises. Jennifer stopped in front a case—a monstrance containing the talismans of their quest—then she squeezed Needy's hand with a fond pressure.

"I've had my eyes on these for a while," she said pointing out two golden, heart-shaped pendants. "I know you've been anxious for a while—anxious about things, about us; and I want to get something to let you know how much you mean to me—how much you will always mean to me. We'll have _BFF_ engraved on each one—best friends forever, that's what we are! You can wear one and I can wear one. It'll be just like your mother and those Jesus freaks who always have those crosses around their necks: they mean that Jesus loves them, right? These aren't jokes—they're symbols of our love. As long as you wear your heart, you'll know that I love you, Needy; and as long as I have mine on, I'll know that you love me. We'll never take them off, no matter what, no matter who else we're with."

Needy couldn't wait to put on the necklace with her pendant. She wanted to wear it and wanted everyone to notice it. She wanted them to say how beautiful it was. She wanted them to know that Jennifer had bought it for her. She wanted to talk about her lover, even if she had to use the euphemism BFF.

"They're beautiful, Jennifer."

"I knew you'd like them," the dark girl said. "I know that I haven't always been a good friend, but I believe our hearts are knit together in love; and I want you to know that I'd gladly spend whatever I have and even give myself for you."

Needy's eyes started to tear up.

"No water works, okay?" Jennifer said gently. "It's so needy."

The End.

Thanks to all for reading.

Avarenda, Rioux, LyssaB, Melanie-Kisaragi, TheQueen, Heart of a Wolf, andreichen07 deserve special thanks for leaving comments that boosted my morale.


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